Relief & Celebration

Dylan passed the Louisiana bar exam! They posted results today. Dylan was anxiously checking the webpage's "passed" section because he desperately wanted to buy I-passed-the-bar-donuts for his office. I called his work number, and he didn't answer; I called his cell and asked, "Are you out buying donuts?" "Yeeeeess!" "Woohoo!!" =) And now we're in the clear to really make preparations for our move to New Orleans. Lease is signed for a shotgun house on Algiers Point! Whoa. Things are gettin' real.

It's a beautiful ANZAC Day today, and Adeline's 3month birthday, and cousin Ahlwan's 1-year birthday. When it's lovely, warm, and sunny out, it's pretty easy to think how precious and sweet the kiddos are. I mean, I know that they are precious; but Wednesday and Thursday of this week were grey and rainy, and it's a lot harder to see through the bleak to the sweet. Today, though, man -- they're angels ;). Yesterday, in actuality, was quite nice. All 3 of us were lying on the floor, Ada in the middle, and I read Edward the Emu, oh, 6 times in a row to us. Paul kept requesting "eemooo, eemooo", so I kept on going. And Ada looked at the big, simple illustrations, too! It was a really sweet half-hour or so. Then, in the evening, Paul was helping Papa in the kitchen as I was nursing Ada on the living room floor, and he would run in to us, kiss Ada's head, pat my hair, then run back to Papa. Gah. Cute attack.

We've kept Easter on our minds this week via extra treats after dinner, and Paul likes to read The Tale of the Three Trees with me - he has his abridged, board book kids' copy while I have the big-person copy. We want to do something special for the Sunday dinners during Eastertide, but now all of a sudden there's so much to celebrate: dinner out tonight for the Bar, and this Sunday JPII and Pope John XXIII will be canonized! Wow! We'll have kielbasa & gelato to celebrate - yum.

And now for some outdoor kid love:

Happy Easter!

The Lord is risen - let the 50 days of Easter celebration commence!

Things have only gone smoother - or shall I say, been less of a roller-coaster - since the last post. Mike, Colleen, (goddaughter) Kate, and "Lil Bit-o-Honey" (due in May!) came to visit on a Saturday, Paul, Ada, & I had a pretty normalized week, and then there was Easter. And now here we are!

Last week seems Ada's hit her stride. In fact, the day after The Bivers were over, she even had her first laugh! Dylan would cough kind of at her / in her face, and she thought it was a riot; Dylan got a sore throat. She started smiling at random things and at us whenever we looked at her, she spent much more awake&happy time during the day, and she plummeted in crying time. She's also trying to work out a pretty even nap/sleep schedule; she sleeps from 9pm-ish for about 12 hours (with nurse breaks, of course), dozes for about 15-30min somewhere in the morning & again at lunch, then goes down for a good 2-3hours around 2ish. Not bad, I say! Even the thought of sorta finding a routine comforts and relaxes me. I knew I like a good pattern, but I didn't realize how much the chaos of an infant throws me off =).

Then on to Easter. First, on Good Friday, all 4 of us participated in the walking Stations of the Cross from St. Augustine's to St. Edward's here in town - a mile+ apart. Saturday we laid low, or tried to anyway! That evening got going with a few Easter preparations once the kiddos were asleep - decorating, setting the table, etc. Sunday morning was packed full! We started with egg-dying and hot-cross-bun-baking, then moved on to Mass preparations (it was so full we had to sit in separate pews), then a quick lunch before both Paul & Ada napped at the same time. Dylan and I had cuppas & snacks on the deck in the warm sunshine - aah! Then we had a roast lamb dinner. All in all, I'd say it was a beautiful day together.

Up from the Downs

Two weeks have never* been more different.

*ok, an exaggeration, but still.

Last week was the pits. This week's been not only just manageable ... but (mostly) nice! I didn't even want to post anything last week for lack of things worth mentioning except perhaps my dabbling in postpartum depression checklists to see what actually counts. I'd been thinking, OK, I'm 10 weeks postpartum ... when does the "blues" period technically end and something more serious start? What I found is that it's not that simple or clear-cut. And what I decided I really needed was a day spent with Colleen - and a naptime where all 3 kids slept simultaneously to gift us with a good ol' talk. She didn't necessarily say anything that others hadn't before - a lot of women feel like you do, it's just a phase, etc - but it's Colleen! And she does have a certain way of saying things that helps me get out of my head. Plus, since I know she's, shall we say, Irish-spirited?, I know she's not making light of what I relate to her.

So, that was Tuesday of this week after being mostly irritable, hard to please, and short-tempered with Paul & Dylan last week. Then, ta-da, Wednesday's 2-year-old tantrum comes, and I laugh, talk softly, and handle Paul differently ... getting better results; imagine that.

I won't deny that warmer weather has played its part. Snow has melted, and breezes are warmer, so little Ada doesn't "oo oo oo" every time it blows, and then scream. I was afraid she didn't like outside ... and that just wouldn't fly with her big brother who *must* be outside. Once last week, I was, pardon, damned if I do, damned if I don't. Paul screamed to get out or Ada screamed once we were out ... question of whose cry is worse to endure, ugh.

In the last two weeks since posting, we've gotten a bit more of a rhythm down around the Knoll house. Lil Bit has calmed her evenings (yes!), Paul is easy to bed at 8, and then Ada has gone down (more or less) around 9, woken once to nurse, and then slept til 9 or 9:30. I like this schedule! Being too close to the forest to see the trees, I needed to have the goodness of our schedule pointed out to me. But I get it now, so we're good.

Last week's blah-state:

Watching Thomas...

Naptime at the Bivers:

This week's outdoors play/nap: